This bit of news caught my eye over the last couple of days. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39874533 This is the reason I hate the PL and grip it has on our game. It has ruined football in this country and ****ed the national team in my opinion. You have the chairman of a small club expressing concerns about the game here. Whether he is right or wrong, the PL and FA could engage with him. What happens instead? The PL respond with a thinly veiled threat... "We will be writing to Mr Holt to ask him if he wishes the Premier League to continue the support we currently provide for his and other clubs in the EFL." What an arrogant set of pricks.
I saw that. Absolutely disgusting. Total bully boy tactics. Our way or the highway. It's not just in football though. It seems that more and more the big boys in any field get greedier and clamp down in as hard a way as possible on anything that threatens their opportunity to dominate and get richer.
Unfortunately this episode illustrates how the PL think of their contributions to other leagues as a charitable donation (that will be first to go when the Sky money drops) rather than a payment towards the feeder structure that enables their existence.
True but the disparity between the two leagues financially would be much, much closer meaning that these payments would no longer be required to stop relegated teams from going bust. Wages etc would also tumble for players bringing the costs of running Clubs down. There would be a lot of "hurt" in the immediate after effects of Sky money drying up which could cause some teams to go to the wall but that's why Clubs should be run on a sound financial basis in the first place. Work out your realistic income and make sure your expenditure does not exceed. It's not rocket science and something that a lot of small businesses do every single day of the year.
Why is it the responsibility of the premier league to keep other teams in lower leagues afloat? Doesn't make sense to me
I see people think that the Sky bubble will never burst. Wrong. It's only a matter of time. Whilst I am glad that we are back in the Premier League, I hate the ****ing thing. The same boring teams at the top, the same boring names, the same number of foreign players with their antics and ridiculous salaries, the same foreign managers. There is nothing 'Premier' about it. It's a product that people are becoming bored with. The purported reason for the creation of the PL was to improve the national team, except that it has destroyed the England side. It is also destroying our national game and the wonderful pyramid system. It is making a mockery of the greatest cup competition in the world. Sky need to **** off. These kind of bully boy tactics by the PL and clubs really piss me off. The money at the top is obscene. Instead of paying these prima donnas the wages they do, they should sink the money back into the pyramid to help the smaller clubs and the game in this country. There is a reason why our pyramid system was the greatest in the world, where players could be plucked from obscurity and end up playing for their country, or local non-league teams could have their day against the top clubs in the country. The PL is generally a boring, expensive and sanitized product akin to the WWE. It's pantomime football largely played by overpaid pansies with the top clubs attracting rich morons as fans who have no interest in the game. They just like to be seen to be at a game so they can impress people. I hate modern football with a passion. I am praying that when the bubble bursts the FA, the PL and all these rich morons involved in the game will suffer greatly.
It isn't the PL's job to keep clubs afloat, it should be clear that is not the complaint. Its the FA's - its the whole point football associations were set up worldwide. However the FA doesn't run football in this country anymore unlike in other countries. It hasn't since 1992. Indeed Sky probably have nearly as much say as the useless FA. It is natural that money gravitates towards the pinnacle of football in any country. It would however be mind numbingly stupid to think you just run the PL as some sort of separate entity and neglect the rest of football in this country right down to the grass roots. Football is not a play thing for the rich, it is something that anybody of any means should be able to enjoy. The costs associated with running football clubs is now huge, and it is only right that the huge amounts of money flowing into the game are distributed far and wide to ensure that the overall health of football across the country is bettered - not just the PL and its merry band of foreign owner/rich corporates! The lack of financial control at the top of the game has become ridiculous. We have an agent that earned 41m from a single transfer. If that doesn't set off red flags for any self respecting person with a genuine interest in the health of the game, then I don't know what does. I don't blame the PL mind. I blame the FA. They are the ones that sold out, most likely to line a few pockets. It certainly wasn't for the betterment of the game in this country or the long term health of it. There short term greed blinded them to what has happened now. This "bubble" will hopefully pop at some stage and I look forward to it happening.
Why is everyone thinking that there is a bubble somewhere waiting to be burst ? It's like saying that there is a bubble in property prices. Unfortunately, there isn't. There is a limited amount of land and an increasing number of people who want to live on it. Supply and demand. Similarly, for whatever reason, people want to watch the Premier League. That isn't likely to change in England (people have always watched footie) and it appears to be increasing in the rest of the world. The Premier League could go out of fashion I suppose but it would be a gradual process of which there is no sign at the moment. Unless there is something seriously out of whack with Sky's books (which is possible but I've never heard it said) then I don't see any reason to expect anything to change soon.
Not sure why people think the bubble will burst. There is competition for broadcasting rights between BT and Sky, more and more countries coming on board to buy the viewing rights and bigger and bigger sponsorship deals being signed. Agree though that the money has changed the whole structure of the game but doubt anything will happen that will distribute more to the lower levels any time soon.
It should be called the world premier league and not the english premier league IMHO! That is unfortunately what it has become!
That is my fear. We are stuck with this. There is no bubble. These foreign owners bring with them more worldwide exposure through media links, new markets. It all sounds great for the game here. Everyone wants to watch it. The money flows in. The problem is it is flowing straight back to these owners. Yes the clubs accumulate saleable assets to move around like cattle or chess pieces, but they still essentially just the money goes back to them. The PL are like a facilitator or agent in all this. I think we're ****ed
The fact that Sky viewing figures were down by some 20% would suggest something is happening - maybe not a bursting of the bubble, but maybe a levelling out - if you can have a level bubble? (spirit level maybe)
just contemplating - do you think Sky register a mass drop in viewers at about 60mins in to any sunderland game they show live??
While I agree with a lot of that, not much of the money flows back to the owners. That would happen if the clubs made a profit, which they rarely do. The money essentially flows through the clubs to the players and their agents. Salaries and transfer fees go up to consume any increase in revenue.
These two pics sum up things for me. Different era's and the latter pretty much epitomizes everything that is wrong with the modern game..... First one - Proper old school football. Decent bloke that fans could identify with. Second one - Pampered overpaid pansy who is a disgrace. Split lip Alexi ffs. Grow a ****ing pair for christ sake.
lol so much rage. Not that i agree with the PL bully boy tactics but why should the PL invest more into the FL. How do you feel about the lack of investment into Womens football? Shouldn't they get a bucket of money too. Unfortunately, it's all about supply and demand, people want to watch the PL and people will pay to watch the PL. You only have to see what happened to the Championship/League 1 money when why is Setanta bought the rights and they consequently screwed it all over because they didn't get the viewings they thought they would and had to liquidate. As for the clubs at the top staying at the top, unfortunately that's modern football, they can afford the best players and so they stay at the top. Short of going USA style draft and salary caps, you can't stop what footie has become, unless we strip it down, lose all that money and go back pre-PL days and say goodbye to your sanchez, henrys, shearers who would no doubt have played abroad for big money
